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Are you looking to buy clothes in the most awkward way possible? Well, Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo is bringing that opportunity to holiday shoppers in New York’s Times Square by setting up human vending machines. Yes, they’re vending machines with mimes inside, with human assistants in metallic bodysuits there to help you. Yikes. The whole…
A group of astronomers have taken the “Music of the Spheres” quite literally, and have recorded the sound of three stars that’re similar to our Sun. The technique, dubbed stellar seismology, lets scientists get some idea about what’s going on in the inner structure of the stars. This research was carried out using France’s Corot…
You’d think that this $78 Jumbo Gear Clock sleeps alright knowing that, unlike its digital counterparts, it features 50 exposed moving gears that show off the otherwise hidden complexity of clockwork. But the Jumbo Gear Clock does not sleep well at all. The Jumbo Gear Clock lays awake at night because the Jumbo Gear Clock…
Thanks to the Second Amendment, even the elderly have the right to keep and bear arms. The problem is that many of the guns out there are a bit unwieldy for an older person to handle. However, the inventors of the Palm Pistol are planning to change all that with a weapon that is ideal…
Oh, there’s a full QWERTY keyboard on this pen, but you can’t actually type with it. Instead, the keys just sit there, judging you silently as you attempt to remember just how to shape a cursive capital Q or Z. Screw this, it’ll be easier just to change your name from Quique Zuzanny. That’s what…
Expect a tidal wave of more Android goodness today, the first day any developer can register and upload their own applications to the no-overlord-approval-necessary Android Market. We’ll be following the action closely in our Android App Liveblog, so keep a close watch there as the applications start rolling in. [Android Developers Blog]
Click to viewQik’s handy video streaming app has been out, in real or test release for the iPhone, HTCs and Nokias, but not Blackberry… until now that is. The company’s just released an alpha version BlackBerry client, working best under the 4.5 OS, and running on Pearl 8120/8130, Curve 8320/8330 and Bold. A version for…
While Nintendo hasn’t even announced the next Wii, a DigiTimes source claims that a company named Pixart Imaging is already set to provide Nintendo with the infrared chips for their next generation Wii device. (Pixart already supports the current Wiimote and products from Intel and Logitech.) While not necessarily the worst news, I’m sure at…
We already knew Red was going to totally revise its Epic and Scarlet cameras, and there was a rumor about a Red DLSR too: but Jim Jannard—Red’s CEO—has just popped up on the RedUser forums and confirmed that there’s going to be an announcement about the new Epics and Scarlets on November 13th. And if…
Exactly like the old animator’s trick of having stacked gels photographed at different depths in front of the lens, this concept display by designer Mac Funamizu has a dual-layered transparent LCD screen. The idea being that by displaying suitable images on both screens, you’ll get a sense of depth when you view it. A simple…
Google has a released a custom, multitouchy version of Google Earth for the iPhone, and it rocks, turning you into a master of universe that can zoom, twirl and pan all around the world with just a few flicks of your fingers. It also uses the accelerometer, so you can pan and tilt, too. It…
The new “Home Assistant Robot” is the product of joint research between Toyota and the University of Tokyo. And while it’s not as fancy as Asimo, the 5-foot, 286lb home robot is probably a whole lot more practical—it cleans instead of dancing and packs two wheels instead of tricky legs.The HAR uses five cameras and…
Let the Black Friday ad leaks begin! Our first major ad is from Sears, and it’s a big one. It’s got the stuff you’d expect from Sears (tools, tires and jewelry), but it also has loads of tech stuff that might make it worth stopping by. Highlights include a Sharp 46-inch 1080p set for $900,…
My old office used to have those irritating IR-sensor lights, so if you were working late and popped out—say to the loo—for more than a few minutes, you’d be welcomed back to uninviting darkness: now you can have the same facility in your home thanks to Black&Decker’s LightsOut. Well, actually it’s quite a neat gizmo—it’s…
We’ve already seen the new MacBook and MacBook Pro dissected, but that’s no longer enough. We’re internet readers. We need larger and larger doses of information injections lest our bodies drop to the floor in Hello Kittyless convulsion. So here’s an entertaining, if not a little superficial, disassembly and reassembly of the new MacBook Pro.…
For some reason, the W63CA cellphone hit the FCC over on this side of the Pacific in August, but now it’s officially hit the stores in Japan. It’s got a couple of claimed world’s firsts, apparently: the world’s first 8.1 megapixel cameraphone, and the first with a 3.1-inch 480 × 800 pixels organic EL display.…
You won’t be chanting “Mir:ror Mir:ror, on my desk” rhymes if you buy Mir:ror and want it to tell you some interesting info: instead you’ll be waving your possessions over its USB-connected sensor, whereby small RFID stickers ID the objects, and prompt your computer to display enhanced-reality style info. For example, wave your brolly near…
News on Mototola’s crazy high-end Aura cellphone surfaced last week, and over at Mobile Review they’ve actually managed to get a hold of a pre-production example and given it a good playing-with. And as the gallery confirms, the round-screened phone really does seem to impress with its shiny looks, whizzy screensavers and clocks, and circularly-tweaked…
This weekend marked the fifth anniversary of the last commercial flight of the Concorde. Capable of flying at a cruise speed of Mach 2.02 thanks to its four Olympus 593 Mk 610 afterburning turbojets, the Concorde bridged London to New York in just 3.5 hours. Still today, this supersonic jet remains one of the most…
Thanks to a f*****g stupid error, the iTunes Music Store in the UK has accidentally censored thousands of songs, albums, and artists’ names. Innocent songs—like Danny Kaye’s “I Thought I Saw A P***y Cat”—and not-so-innocent ones—like Nirvana’s “Smells Like T**n Spirit”—have been asterisked by what an Apple spokeswoman has described as a “database glitch”. Why…
